Author - Chuck Chaney

Kevin Durant had a bad shooting night for the first time in forever. Thunder nation seems to be up in arms and worried about game 7. Fear not my Thunder readers. Kevin Durant will be fine for game 7. Well, that is if you believe stats don’t lie. I was curious on how Kevin followed up a sub 20 point game. What I have found will definitely ease your pain.Read More

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The Oklahoma City Thunder blew a 10 point halftime lead, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies. With the loss, the Grizzlies force a game 7. Grizzlies were dominate on both sides of the ball in the second half, yet the Thunder weren’t out of the game until late fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant shot poorly for the first time in what seems like forever. KD went just 3-14 from the field, finishing with just 11 points. Russell Westbrook had a solid game 11-22 shooting for 27 points. Oklahoma City scored just 29 second half points in what could be considered another second half meltdown.

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The Thunder are coming off a dominating 99-72 victory over the Grizzlies on Wednesday. Close out games are the hardest game in the NBA. Oklahoma City is currently 1-1 on closing out games this year.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are just in their 4th and 3rd year in the league, respectively, and are on the cusp of entering the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. They’re on pace to be the second youngest team ever to win a World Championship. (’77 Portland Trailblazers)

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What can I say? Wow. Hard to put into words what you just witnessed. I’m going to just literally ramble for a couple of paragraphs. So, bear with me.

Trailing 35-17. The Thunder seemed dead in the water. Grizzlies were on fire. Kevin Durant was 1-4 from the field. Grizzlies seemed to be on the cusp of putting this series out of reach. Something happened.

The Thunder got AGGRESSIVE.

Early on it was tough going. Grizz jumped out 37-22. Then the Honey Badger took over. Cut to the middle. Cross Conley over. Get fouled, get to the line, get fouled. Get to the line. It became a routine. Brooks went small. KD at the 4 and the Grizzlies had to match. Kevin may not have been hitting his shots early on. However, he got to the line. KD finished superbly. Started out 3-11, Finished 6-9. KD took over in the third OT.

However, before that, much happened. Tons of technical fouls. Tons of fouls. Did I mention a ton of fouls? The Thunder went 42-50 from the foul line. Grizzlies countered, going a whopping 37-40, 92.5%.

Looking back at the keys to the game, we’ll grade the Thunder and see how they did.

Finish: Thunder came out flat and very sloppy. Turned the ball over 7 times in the opening quarter. Almost a continuation of game 3. A lot of Thunder faithful pooped their pants when we got down 35-17. However, we did finish. Took us 3OT, but we did it.

Grade: B-

B-E Aggressive: Thunder were very aggressive. Getting to the foul live 50 times. Games 1 and 2, the Thunder go to the line 60 total times, in game 4 alone, the Thunder got there 50. It forced the Grizzlies into foul trouble. Grizzlies two best perimiter shooters, Mayo and Conley ended up fouling out. This was so costly. However, you can tell we came out with a chip on our shoulder

Grade: A+

BLOCK THE FK OUT: Grizzlies gobbled up 24 offensive rebounds. However, the Thunder were able to come out almost equal on the overall rebounding category. Overall, Grizz outrebounded the Thunder 55-54, but the Thunder were able to overcome the massive boards by the Grizzlies. Gasol and Z-Bo combined for 37 rebounds, 18 offensive.

Grade: C-

A win is a win. We split in Memphis. Crowd was out of control. Harassed Oklahoma City faithful. However, the best shooter in the NBA overcame a little slump early on and put the game away.

Remember what you’ve wittness here. Only 6 triple or more OT games in the history of the NBA Playoffs.

3/21/53 Boston 111, Syracuse 105 4OT

6/4/76 Boston 128, Phoenix, 126 3OT

6/13/93 Phoenix 129, Chicago 121 3OT

5/14/04 New Jersey 127, Detroit 120 3OT

4/30/09 Chicago 128, Boston 127 3OT

MONDAY Thunder 133, Memphis 123 3OT

Real quick on teams that win triple overtime games:

the previous three winners of a triple-overtime game in the postseason ended up losing the series.

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Oklahoma City are on their heels. We can admit that. However, I’d like to think we’re that animal that’s backed into a corner and we’re ready to strike. After blowing a 13 point fourth quarter lead, they’ll have to play for 48 minutes.

The Thunder were outscored 23-10 in the 4th quarter. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to go 3-17 in the 4th quarter and overtime.

“We let our guards down,” Perkins said.

With that said, we’ll have to be better prepared tonight.

I’m going to break down some keys that should help the Thunder come out victorious. As I do this, take it with a grain a salt. I’m no coach. I just have watched every game the Thunder have played. Just observations.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder are Coming of what is considered an impressive performance in a 111-102 win over the Grizzlies. The Thunder head into a very wet Memphis for a swing matchup with what has become a knockout, drag out matchup. Winner will assume home court advantage and have the inside track on the rest of the series.

I’m going to hit on a few keys that are important to the Thunder success to get the home court advantage back. Feel free to comment.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder came back and evened the series with the Memphis Grizzlies 1-1 off Kevin Durant’s 26 points. Russell Westbrook, the honey badger, got back on track with 24 points, 6 assists and only 4 turnovers. Eric Maynor and James Harden exploded off the bench to combine for 36 points, 7 assists and 6 steals.

After being bullied around the court in Game 1, the Thunder pushed Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol around. Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka got physical early and often with Zbo. After going 21-33 for 54 points in game 1, Zbo & Gasol went a measly 5-22 for 28 points. 18 of those game from the free throw line.

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If Russell Westbrook doesn’t get control of his game, the Thunder are in trouble. I LOVE the Honey Badger and his carefree attitude. However, if we are truly going to be a NBA Title contender, he needs to get in control. ASAP.

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So, we decided Wednesday night after watching the Oklahoma City Thunder demolish the Denver Nuggets that we were going to Denver for games 3 and 4. When I say “we” I mean my roommate and I.

We originally were going up for just game 4. However, after some joking on twitter, a nice gentlemen, Eric Urbach, @EricUrbach, ponied up a nice $100 to help our trip. With that we were set for games 3 and 4 in Denver.